Be My Eyes – Lend your eyes to the blind (opens in new tab)

Actually, I haven't abandoned it--literally working on it this very minute, in fact. :)

The problem is that multi-platform video interchange is a hard problem. Very hard. SIP only gets you so far even with web RTC, then you hit issues where server X doesn't like delegating authentication to anything else, Y does but requires super-indepth knowledge of the protocol, and Z may or may not but it's got so many modules it's hard to tell. Then there's the issue of needing some degree of call control so connections can be terminated for using too much time, which the hosted SIP services I looked at don't seem to allow. And, unfortunately, the hardest problem of the launch list is the one I need to get right, meaning I've spent months looking for a good, low-cost, cross-platform (desktop, Android and IOS) video exchange solution and have only recently found something that may work. It's possible that I've just used bad Google keywords or something, but none of the legacy SIP servers seem to like being plugged into a web app as opposed to managing everything themselves.

So, yeah, definitely not abandoned, I've just spent way more time than I liked finding a possibly good media server, plus continuing to earn money so I can keep the lights on and pay the rent. :) Hoping for a launch in the next couple months, assuming my current path pays off.

BTW, how the hell do you accessibly (I.e. via the keyboard) click the button to submit comments here? :P I have to poke around on my touchscreen until I find it, then double-tap. Surely there's a better way?

Blindness is unfortunately a nearly crushing disability economically. 74% of the blind are unemployed [1] (there is another figure you will occasionally also see of 13% unemployment for the blind, that's a US Government statistic that excludes anyone who is not considered in the list of potentially employed people).

Equally important for HN-type readers to know is that Braille literacy is highly correlated with employment among the blind, and rates of Braille literacy are falling rapidly in the US, from a peak of around 50% in the 1950's to more like 12% today [1].

Smart phone apps are great and important but from what I've read they don't seem to be having the impact on blind employment that Braille has had.

Hopefully someone here will know of a survey reporting measurable economic gains for the new generation of Braille-illiterate technologically assisted blind, thus far what I've heard anecdotally on that front has not been encouraging.

[1] http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/needforbraille.html

For these kinds of services, the introduction of a payment can change supply and demand in very unexpected ways.

Example: There once was an experiment with blood donations, where a payment for the blood donation actually decreased the number of people who were willing to donate. Apparently, receiving a payment for an activity that seems charitable makes some people feel bad.

A similar effect might happen if Blind My Eyes introduced payments. (While this particular effect would reduce supply, this does not necessarily imply that the introduction of a payment would lead to a negative change in supply. It's just one factor.)

Well, AFB would like to have a conversation with you.

http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/for-job-seek...

I'm all for empowering people but I doubt that given the current state of things, especially blind and visually impaired employment rate, this would be successful if it were for-profit.

If successful as a non-profit this projects can

- raise awareness

- break isolation

- practically improve lives

- push society forward (helping solve employment?)

- make everybody's life much better

I really mean it regarding "empowerment". I've worked with NGOs on remote locations and I'm all too aware of their derives but in this case I think your point makes no sense.

I'd feel pretty cheeky helping a blind person if I was doing it just to get paid for it.

Similarly, I wouldn't help an old lady cross the street then ask for a pound.

Really? Equals? Don't require charity? They CAN'T SEE. Even if they can somehow manage to do "everything" a normal person can do, they can't do it with the same speed.

Every blind person is 100% totally self-sufficient and able to hold down a steady job that pays well enough to take care of all their needs? Job hunting is hard enough when you can see!

Imagine, a world where the government and employers didn't provide any extra help for the blind, and the blind didn't have families to lean on.

What the hell are you actually talking about?

"If we took wheelchairs away from crippled people, maybe the general public will be more inclined to treat them as equals and demolish the notion that cripples require the assistance of wheelchairs"

I'd suggest (almost) exactly the opposite, actually...

Charge $5/mo to be a 'helper' and keep it free for blind users. I suspect there are enough folks out there who would be happy to pay $5 for the opportunity to help others (maybe I'm too much of an optimist though... who knows...)

That way you cover costs, and filter out a lot of potential trolls.

Upvoted, though I don't like that idea. People tend to treat differently things they do for money and things they do for non-monetary rewards. In this particular case, I'm not sure which version would be better for the blind, but I think I'd prefer to help for free.

I'm interested in further discussion. Input from actual blind people would be really helpful here.

Taptapsee[1] is a similar app that is commercial. Its a bit more limited / streamlined, in that it only sends one picture and one textual description instead of doing a video chat, but it does work really well. I agree that making it a commercial service can be a positive thing, because it makes a blind user not feel any guilt over using the service excessively. On the other the financial situations of people with disabilities are quite different in different countries, so my perspective here is limited.

[1] http://www.taptapseeapp.com

Would the creator(s) of Be My Eyes pitch in here and share their view of non-profit vs. for-profit? For instance, our company, Robin Labs, develops voice-driven solutions, technology that should be almost perfect for the visually impaired. We are willing to design a dedicated product that is just the right voice assistant for the blind if we can simply break even. We want to help, but cannot self-fund it entirely.

It would be interesting to use something like bitcoin for social capital -- literally a favor bank.

My first thought was the point that saalaa is making in a sibling comment, but I'm also thinking there should be a way for users to either go for a volunteer, or have mechanical turk options when you REALLY need to see something and you would pay for it.

I like the idea of helping people for free (as do many people in the thread). But I wonder quality of assistance would be better if people were getting paid. And I wonder if the app would reach more people if it were for profit.

The blind people are already outnumbered by the sighted, pretty much 1:10. Turns out blind people don't use phones with touch screens.

#shithnsays

"Nice idea, but I think it would be better if it were commercial, with the blind user paying, the sighted helper getting paid, and the app developers getting a cut. The payment could be by the minute."

What makes you think your opinion on this matters? That sounds inflammatory but it's a bit pompous to look at an idea and say, "nice, but you should make people pay for it."

VoiceOver, among other features I believe: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/voiceover/

You should try VoiceOver and the gestures that come with it, it's mind blowing how well it works. I've found plenty of usability improvements that are really easy to make so that VoiceOver works flawlessly in apps I've worked on.

With Siri you can just press the home button for 2 seconds and say: "Open Be My Eyes" and it will open it up for you.

Siri "Launch the X app"? I gather the rest of the UI can be used with gestures. See a user flicking sideways in the video.

Maybe they are using Siri to launch apps

I imagine they'd want to verify the identity of "helpers" through the same means that Paypal does: through bank account (not credit card) verification.

We do have abuse handling

This also was my first thought, and my second thought was to solve it through redundancy.

Not exactly abuse, but I think this app might be a way for non-blind people to get to know some random potentially nice person. Sort of like chat roulette but without the dicks.

That's actually an interesting bit of feedback. Thanks. I'm using SIP/web RTC for my for-profit version of this and had considered adding text chat, but I couldn't come up with a good use case so left it out. It'd probably also be useful when the text of something is important and you'd like a record after the call ended. I'll add that to the features list.

I have the same fears. Downloaded the app, and once I realized that I needed to make an account, in addition to my fear, I balked out. Or maybe I'm just lazy..

I'm in the same boat. I'd be more likely to help if it wasn't real-time (but still quick enough to be helpful).

Yeah, I saw that and just thought hell no. I'm partially sighted & there's no a chance I'd let someone guide me across a road via video chat on a 3G connection. I'd go as far as saying that's quite an irresponsible use to suggest on your home page.

It wouldn't be any different than the passenger in your car telling you, like "clear right". Any resulting accident is still the driver's fault afaik.

One problem that I see (you guys might already address this) but if I'm a helper and I get a call from a blind person and I have just a couple minutes to help but the blind person needs 10 minutes of help it would be inefficient to connect me with them. One way to solve this would be for the blind to select a time range of how much help they need (1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc...) and then when it calls the helper it will show how much help is needed, so they can either decline or go into the call knowing how long they will be busy for.

Also you may be able to introduce pricing in this way, where anything under 5 minutes is free, but over 5 minutes you charge however much per minute and then split the cost with the helper.

Great undertaking, guys! I am from Robin Labs, we create voice assistants and would like to build one for the blind (Siri-style, but one that is really eyes-free). To do that, we need somebody who understands the target audience and their use cases better than we do. Maybe we could team up and make a difference. If that sounds interesting, please ping me at ilya AT robinlabs DOT com.

What made you choose iOS first over Android? (Was it an arbitrary choice or one driven by data that more iOS users would be on board with this sort of project than Android users? Maybe something simpler like the developers had more iOS experience?)

That is the first thought I had. The expectation here is that the blind need help, which may not be the case. The interesting thing to me was that the blind can "see" through echo location. Very cool stuff.

Gamification. "Internet points" have a way to boost one's self-esteem while not perverting as much as monetary rewards do. Even though I totally want to help for free, I'd personally like to look every now and then and see how many people I've helped over time, just to boost my feelings of self-worth.

It's also a way to establish trust between the blind and the volunteers. I haven't used the app but I imagine the blind can somehow (via voice?) specify a certain threshold of "points". Otherwise, there might be some uncool people out there doing uncool things.

The points is just a fun gamification thing. Trying to make people share and use the app.

Well I have used the app as both blind and sighted. A blind person simply presses a button which sends requests to a helper. If the helper does not have time, the api sends a request to another helper. When a helper takes the call, he/she gets a video and audio stream from the blind persons phone. The blind person gets an audio stream from the sighted person.

A conversion about the problem to be solved can now take place. Whenever the blind or sighted person wishes to disconnect, they press a button and the call is finished.

Is that what you were asking for?

Both iOS and Android now have pretty good accessibility features for the blind. I think iOS is still slightly ahead though. Basically the phone reads out the button or action when you put your finger over it and you have to double tap to click. When you go to a new screen, it reads out the contents.

You can try it yourself if you have an iOS or Android phone by enabling the feature. But I've met blind people who use their touch screen smart phones every day.

It's not like smartphones don't have accessibility features (text-to-speech and similar).

They are all pictures of actual blind people. There are no "Photoshopism" involved other than the usual enhancing brightness or contrast etc.

Not only lonely. Just bored.

I also hope for a release on Android soon.

Can you please send an email to info@bemyeyes.org with the details, as we are very interested in fixing this issue

iOS 7 here, had same problem.

just switch between apps, it goes normal but there's no direct transition.

Currently we have builtin abuse reports in the app, if either end of a call thinks something is odd. Hopefully we can catch abuse through this mechanism.

Please let us know if you hear about anything like this in relation to Be My Eyes – sounds horrible.

The iPhone has VoiceOver, and there are bluetooth Braille keyboards/displays for typing.

This page goes into a bit more detail: https://andreashead.wikispaces.com/How+Do+Blind+People+Use+a...